By LACHLAN MOORHEAD
CLINTON Fraser says he’s not a religious man.
But after the Cranbourne father-of-three collapsed from a heart attack last month and came back from the brink of death, the 46-year-old admits he has more than a little luck on his side.
“Yeah it’s made me think gee, it definitely wasn’t my time,” Clinton told Star News.
“Because two days earlier when it was 38 degrees I went for a run up in Lysterfield Lake by myself, doing hill work, and I had the chest pain.
“Had I collapsed at Lysterfield I would not be here today.”
Clinton is here thanks to the quick-thinking of a number of people who rushed to his aid, performing CPR and did their best to keep him stable before the paramedics arrived.
These people, including Clinton, are all members of the Berwick Springs Parkrun group who exercise every Saturday morning.
On this particular Saturday – 19 December – Clinton had just finished doing his warm-up lap with his 17-year-old son, Jeremy, when he began to feel dizzy.
“I was over away by myself and I remember saying out loud ‘Jeremy I don’t feel well’ and then I just started turning in a circle and that’s when I collapsed,” Clinton said, who has vague recollections of being resuscitated before passing out again.
He was then rushed to hospital and remained unconscious for the next two days.
Clinton was told his blood flow stopped for as long as 20 minutes at one point.
Later the doctor approached Jeremy and the rest of Clinton’s family in the hospital ward to tell them to prepare for the worst.
“The doctor said it’s quite severe what happened and they weren’t sure if he was going to make it or not,” Jeremy said.
“Originally we thought they were going to say he’d died and passed away.
“We were quite surprised he recovered so quickly.”
In this moment, when Clinton finally opened his eyes, Jeremy rushed to hug his father and hold his hand.
From his own perspective, when he woke in the hospital bed Clinton remembers hearing the surgeons talking about an intravenous tube.
“I tell people this, I felt like I was in my stomach and I followed the tube out, into the bright light,” Clinton said.
“And that’s when I woke up.”
Last Saturday 18 January, Clinton met with his parkrun team-mates for the first time since his heart attack.
Although he’s not allowed to run again yet, he was welcomed with open arms and overwhelmed to meet up with the people who had helped save his life.
Among them was David Cunningham, who had suffered his own heart attack six months earlier and was one of the first people to rush to help Clinton.
“It was awesome, I thoroughly enjoyed that, meeting all the people that helped save my life, and were there on the day,” Clinton said.
For more information on the Berwick Springs Parkrun group, visit www.facebook.com/berwickspringsparkrun/
